Julian Edelman Cracks Fitting Joke After Lightning Dent Stanley Cup

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s championship celebration Monday didn’t go off completely without a hitch.

The Lightning, much like the Buccaneers did back in February, enjoyed a boat parade through Tampa to celebrate their title triumph. And also like Tom Brady and Co., the Bolts were a tad bit careless with the championship hardware.

A tweet from The Athletic’s Joe Smith on Monday night showed the Cup portion of hockey’s most prestigious trophy sustained a fairly significant dent. The photo prompted a response from Julian Edelman, who was involved in a similar situation a few years ago.

“Lightning go out with @RobGronkowski last night?” Edelman tweeted.

Of course, Gronkowski is responsible for the dent on the Lombardi Trophy the New England Patriots claimed for the Super Bowl LIII victory. But Edelman might be in part to blame, as Gronk used the trophy to bunt a pitch thrown by the recently retired wide receiver.

As Smith reported, the dented Cup is set to undergo reparations north of the border. The Patriots, however, elected not to fix the trophy that Gronkowski (and Edelman) dinged up.